Top Health Organizations Call for an End to Virginity Testing

The United Nations is calling for an end to virginity tests, and for good reason — they're "medically unnecessary" and they don't work. But even more than the fact that virginity tests aren't based in science, they are also a violation of human rights.

According to a joint statement from the World Health Organization, United Nations Human Rights, and UN Women, virginity testing is the practice of inspecting the female genitalia — typically looking for rips or tears in the hymen, or inserting two fingers into the vagina — with the belief that physical appearance can determine whether someone has had sexual intercourse. Virginity testing reportedly happens in numerous countries, including Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Libya, Malawi, Morocco, the U.K., and more places. But the report notes that there is no scientific evidence to support that looking at or feeling someone's genitalia can tell you whether or not they've had sex, meaning that girls and women are subjected to invasive tests that aren't medically necessary.

"One of the most widespread myths about virginity is that it can be proven by the presence of an 'intact hymen.' The term 'intact hymen' has no anatomical correlate and should not be used," the report says. As we know, rips and tears to the hymen — a thin, fleshy tissue near the opening of the vagina — can occur whether or not someone has had sexual intercourse (things like playing sports or using a tampon can tear the hymen), but the report also notes that people who have had sex can have what would be considered a "normal" hymen in these tests. "A so-called 'normal' finding on hymen examination is likely to occur in those with and without a history of even recent vaginal penetration, owing to wide variation and because injuries to the hymen often heal rapidly," the report says. The two-finger test falters for obvious reasons — according to the report it's meant to text the "laxity" or looseness of the vaginal wall. Since all vaginas are different, and since having sex doesn't make your vagina loose, there's no standard for what the vaginal walls of someone who has or hasn't had sex would feel like. Basically, there is no test that can determine whether or not someone has had sex.

"'Virginity testing' has no scientific or clinical basis," the organizations that issued the report said in a statement. "There is no examination that can prove a girl or woman has had sex — and the appearance of girl’s or woman’s hymen cannot prove whether they have had sexual intercourse, or are sexually active or not."

But larger than the fact that virginity tests don't work is that they are based on a harmful and misogynistic idea long used to repress and control women: the idea of virginity itself.

"There is no universal definition of the term' virginity' — its meaning varies by era, region, culture and religion," the report says. "The concept of virginity is not a medical or scientific term; rather, it is a social, cultural and religious construct . The disproportionate social expectation that girls and women should remain 'virgins' (i.e. without having sexual intercourse) until marriage is rooted in stereotyped notions of female sexuality that have been harmful to women and girls globally."

Part of that, the report continues, is that a girl's "purity" is often used to measure her value in places where fathers or husbands are considered to have ownership over a woman's body. So-called purity is also used as a way to both shame and exploit women in a way that the report notes benefits men. In some cases, these ideas can result in not only discrimination against women, but also violence so severe that it can include murder. Because of all this, Seema Jalan, executive director of the Universal Access Project & Policy at the United Nations Foundation, told Teen Vogue that virginity testing must end.

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“Virginity testing is and has always been a violation of human rights and a form of gender-based violence. It is yet another tool used to disempower and disenfranchise girls and women around the world. It’s used to humiliate, intimidate, discriminate, and, for victims of sexual violence, can be an especially painful and retraumatizing experience. No person’s worth should be based on an invasive, degrading, and invalid test.”